[NILE, Battle of the.]

An exact representation of the English & French fleets under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson K.B. & Admiral Brueys off the mouth of the Nile on the 1st of August 1798.

London, Robert Laurie & James Whittle, 8 October 1798. 600 x 480 mm, engraving, with original wash colour, and letterpress text; repairs, affecting some small parts of the engraving and letterpress text. A plan illustrating the British fleets’ daring manoeuvres at the Battle of the Nile. It depicts six line of battle ships, led by Captain Foley, moving inshore of the French squadron, while the remaining six, commanded by Nelson, attack the other side of the French line. This broadsheet is rarely found with the section, entitled ‘Additional information’, which gives news of the capture of the frigate Leander returning to England with Nelson’s dispatches, French losses at the Nile, the recapture of Malta from the French, and the situation of Napoleon’s troops in Egypt.The Battle of the Nile, fought mostly in darkness and dramatised by the explosion of the French flagship l’Orient, was one of the most significant and dramatic battles of the Napolenic Wars. With it, British naval supremacy in the Mediterranean was restored, Bonaparte, along with his army, was trapped in the East for fifteen months, the Turks entered the war on the side of the Allies, and Austria was pushed into forming the second coalition against Revolutionary France. ‘But the greatest impact was upon the French Navy, for the absolute nature of Nelson’s victory was a new phenomenon in European warfare. The French Navy never recovered, psychologically or materially, and the battle established a long era of British naval confidence . . . . The Battle of the Nile, notes a French study written in 1988, is one “of which French historians never speak”. It was “the end of the French navy as a force capable of counterbalancing British power. It could not be put together again and Aboukir carried within itself the germ of Trafalgar” ’ (Knight, The pursuit of victory p. 303).

• GBP 3,750.00 > 其他币种价格
• 订书号：: T2899

• 书商: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)